Checkers Come Back Against Toronto for Sixth Straight Win

The Checkers pulled off a miraculous comeback Friday night, erasing a two-goal deficit in the final five minutes of play and earning a thrilling overtime victory over Toronto.

Down 3-1 and facing less than five minutes remaining in regulation, the Checkers were looking for a spark and got one from their captain - Zac Dalpe popped home a loose puck out front and gave the home side some life.

The reinvigorated Checkers pushed hard from there, and a late power play set the stage for Aleksi Heponiemi to wire a wrister into the back of the net and even the score with just 80 ticks left.

Not satisfied with the single standings point, the Checkers finished off their rally in overtime thanks to Grigori Denisenko - who swooped into the center of the slot and launched a quick shot that beat Marlies netminder Erik Kallgren and secured the stunning win.

QUOTES

Coach Geordie Kinnear on the game
I thought it was a really good hockey game and probably should be in overtime. I thought both goalies played well and I thought there were chances back and forth. Just a really good hockey game.

Kinnear on leadership helping the team to come back
We’re only as good as our leadership group and where they want to take us, and they’ve been absolutely fantastic. You saw leadership qualities from (Bitetto), Dalpe, Nash and Hepo scored a big goal. Carlsson and our goaltenders. It’s by committee, but you’re only going to go as far as those guys take you. We’re very lucky to have such a great group of leaders, and it’s not just the older guys. It’s all the leaders in that locker room and there are a lot of them.

Grigori Denisenko on coming back to win the game
We just believed in each other. It’s a good win and it’s important for us.

Denisenko on his goal
Obviously it’s good to score in overtime. It’s a great feeling.

Zac Dalpe on the mood in the locker room
The music is going, it’s a good feeling. Obviously better than being quiet like a library. I think it got away from us a little bit but Geordie talks about resiliency, so that was a good one.

Dalpe on breaking through for the first goal
I thought we out-played them all game, so I knew one was going to fall and then once that happened we kind of got some point energy, and then you see the end result was what we were looking for.

Dalpe on the mood on the bench after going down 3-1
It got quiet for about 10 seconds and then Tony Bitetto started talking and he doesn’t stop, so it was all good.

NOTES

The Checkers extended their season-long winning streak to six games, which is their longest since the 2019-20 season. They have not won seven in a row since sweeping their last seven games of the 2017-18 campaign … The Checkers scored at least four goals in each game of their win streak … This was the first meeting between these two teams since Feb. 1, 2020 … Dalpe tied Chris Terry for second on the Checkers’ all-time goals list with 104. He trails only Zach Boychuk (123) … Justin Sourdif (2a), Heponiemi (1g) and Matt Kiersted (1a) all extended their point streaks to four games … Alex Lyon (30 saves) played his first AHL game since Jan. 7 … Checkers scratches included forwards Ethan Keppen and Cam Morrison, defenseman Dennis Cesana and goaltender J-F Berube.